Tea partiers reject immigration reform

A coalition of tea party organizations and conservative leaders will release a scathing letter Tuesday against the Senate Gang of Eight immigration bill, calling the legislation so “defective” that senators need to scrap it altogether.

The letter, which includes nearly 150 signers, also urges senators to not only reject the underlying legislation, but any procedural votes that would be required for the Senate to begin working on the bill on the floor.

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The signatories include former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), RedState.com editor Erick Erickson, and Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder and national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. The letter is also signed by conservative and tea party leaders from more than 25 states – spanning from California to Iowa to Alabama to New Hampshire.

“No matter how well-intentioned, the Schumer-Rubio bill suffers from fundamental design flaws that make it unsalvageable,” the letter says. “Many of us support various parts of the legislation, but the overall package is so unsatisfactory that the Senate would do better to start over from scratch.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are two key members in the so-called Gang of Eight, a bipartisan coalition of senators who wrote the 867-page legislation. Rubio – considered crucial in the effort to get conservatives on board with the bill – has been courting tea party figures and huddling with them on the need for immigration reform.

But Tuesday’s letter makes clear that conservative opposition against this stab at immigration reform is widespread.

Among the objections outlined in the letter: It gives “excessive control” to the Obama administration on immigration law; it could “bankrupt” the country’s entitlement programs; and it doesn’t sufficiently secure the nation’s borders before granting undocumented immigrants legalized status.

The signers also say the legislation known as S.744 is too “bloated” and “unwieldy,” likening it to laws to reform the health care system and Wall Street that were enacted in President Barack Obama’s first term.

“Reforming our immigration system is an important priority,” the letter says. “But S.744 is such a defective measure that it would do more harm than good.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said comprehensive immigration reform will be the chamber’s top priority item in June, and Gang of Eight bill is expected on to hit the Senate floor as soon as it clears the Senate Judiciary Committee. That vote is expected near the end of this week, and Congress is scheduled for a recess the week of Memorial Day.